Kagayama gets Superpole birthday present.

Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Yukio Kagayama gave himself the best possible birthday present by taking Superpole Saturday at Monza for the fourth round of the Corona Extra Superbike World Championship with a faultless lap of 1min 47.143secs which beat his team mate Troy Corser by just 7000ths of a second.

"I am very happy to get Superpole and because it is my birthday, it is a nice present!" commented Kagayama. "It was a good lap and a perfect lap because I did not make any mistakes. I have been very happy with the qualifying tyres here but I am not so sure about my race tyres. One tyre I like only lasted five or six laps before it went off, so I will have to try another type in the morning warm-up and then decide what to do.

"Tomorrow, strategy is going to be very important. I must not go out very hard from the start and make the tyre wear out. I must use my head throughout the race and especially think what to do at the end. People tell me that I had some slides on my Superpole lap, but I did not feel them. It's better that way!"

Corser was lucky not to crash in Superpole after hitting a bird on his out lap which became struck in between his brake lever and the brake cable. The Australian had to flick it out and make sure it had not caused any damage before getting up to speed for his flying lap.

"Two things cost me some time in Superpole," explaimed Corser. "On my warm-up lap, a bird hit my bike and then hit me and there was blood all over my right arm and shoulder. I guess I was lucky because it could have been much worse - especially if it had happened on my flying lap. Also, I made a small mistake when I ran a little wide exiting on of the chicanes and that lost me some time. But all credit to Yukio because he managed to beat me - even though it was only by seven thousandths of a second!

"This afternoon he followed me for a while and that helped him learn the track a bit better and of course do a good Superpole lap. I am very happy with my bike set-up and, apart from adjusting the mapping a little in the morning warm-up, I think we are all set. I don't think anybody is going to get away in the races and expect four or five of us will be pretty close to each other at the end and that should be great for all the fans."